Ocansey's claim of right is in bad faith - Prosecution

The prosecution in the case in which Amina B. Abubakari Sidiq, a businesswoman, is standing trial at a Regional Tribunal at Accra for a 1.5 million dollars deal, on Thursday said the accused person's claim of right to the amount was in bad faith.

Mr. Anthony Gyambiby, Principal State Attorney, told the tribunal chaired by Mr. Isaac Duose that a claim of right "is a claim of right in good faith", but that the accused also known as Baby Ocansey, did not show any good faith in her claim and that "a person without a claim of right, becomes an essential element of dishonest appropriation."

He said "where there is a claim of right, it must be supported by evidence and that the accused has no claim of right whatsoever, in the collection of the 1.5 million dollars from the Bank Of Ghana (BOG)".

Mr. Gyambiby was addressing the tribunal after Mr. Godfred D.A. Laryea, counsel for Ocansey, had closed his case. Ocansey, 61, is charged on four counts of causing financial loss to the state, stealing, possessing and altering forged document.

She had pleaded not guilty to all the charges and is on a 500,000 dollar bail, with a surety to be justified. Mr. Justice Duose adjourned the case to Monday, October 21 for judgement. On Tuesday, 13 August 2002, the tribunal acquitted and discharged three others, two former officials of the BOG and a businessman who had been charged jointly with Ocansey.

The tribunal ruled that the prosecution had failed to establish prima facie cases against Mr Sebastian Gavor and Mr. Justice Larbie, the two former employees of the BOG and Alhaji Sidiq Gimala.

Mr. Gyambiby said, as at December 17, 1999, the bank draft from the Chase Manhattan Bank in the United States, was not a good instrument for payment, since it had no supporting funds, and that the draft turned out to be forged.

The prosecution said looking at the totality of evidence before the tribunal, there was so many pieces of circumstantial evidence, which had led to the conclusion that, Ocansey misappropriated the 1.5 million dollars and wilfully caused financial loss to the state. The Principal State Attorney submitted that Ocansey appropriated the money, which she did not deny and that the appropriation was dishonest, since the accused had an evil intention.

Mr. Gyambiby wondered how the name of an official of the BOG could be written on the face of the cheque in question as a beneficial, and added that it was to influence payment. He said this was a clear test case to show that the whole exercise was a syndicate.

The prosecutor told the tribunal that unless the defence put up credible evidence beyond reasonable doubt, it should fail leading to the accused person's conviction. He said the "prosecution has been able to establish its case on all the four charges, and called on the tribunal to convict Ocansey".

The Principal State Attorney had earlier told the Tribunal that in the latter part of October 1999, Gavor called one Mr E. D. Donkoh, Manager of the Budget and Accounts Department of the Bank into his office and asked him to furnish Ocansey with the Account Number and address of the Ghana International Bank in London. Mr Donkoh, complied with the request, which enabled Ocansey to transact business with the bank.

Mr. Gyambiby said on November 11, 1999, Ocansey presented a bank draft purported to have been issued by the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York, dated 5 November 1999 with the face value of 1.5 million dollars to Gavor for encashment, after which Gavor instructed his secretary, Mrs. Lucy Sasu to send Mr. Donkoh to send the draft to one Mr. Ashie Djanie to process for collection.

The draft whose maturity date was December 12, 1999, was given to Mr. Djanie for processing after which it was despatched by the BOG on 26 November 1999. On 1 December 1999, Citibank, New York, confirmed by a swift message having credited 1.5 million dollars to the BOG's account, but with the following proviso; "subject to the rules governing cheques and their clearings", adding that, "this message was received the following day."

On 16 November 1999, Mr Gavor asked Mr. Djanie, who worked in the Banking Department of the BOG, to use his (Gavor's) IDD to confer with the BOG's contact personnel at the City Bank to know the status of the bank draft and he was informed that, the BOG had been credited with the bank draft.

Irrespective of this caution about the clearance of cheques and banking procedures, Mr Larbie instructed Mr Djanie to process the draft for payment and subsequently approved the payment schedule, which was prepared by Mrs. Nyarko and Mrs. Kessie, both workers of the BOG. The process went through and the amount was paid to Ocansey and Gavor whose names appeared on the cheque in the office of Gavor.